Hey guys,

It has been too long since I've posted anything. Long story short, I've been pretty busy with travel, growing my businesses and playing a bunch of poker at crown casino, Melbourne.

$1/3 has been coming along well. Roll is higher than it ever was before (should be reaching $20,000 by the end of July). Without sounding arrogant, I can confidently say that I was probably one of the best players at $1/3.

I saw 'was' because recently crown changed their stakes and buy in caps. $1/3 now has a $300 buy in and $2/4 has been replaced with $2/5 with a $500 buy in cap. Because of this, some regs have dropped down stakes for pure profitability reasons and I think some poker players have started playing at crown after hearing about the stake change (this is my hunch as I am seeing a lot of new faces around and their play is generally better than the typical $1/3 fish).

Anyways the point of this post is to point out a clear issue or problem that I am struggling with - and that is becoming a better poker player.

The $1/3 game is easy. I've figured out what people's tendencies are and I play quite optimally netting me approximately $20-25 per hour.

The problem - When I learn new poker theory (strategies that I should use to become a profitable player at higher stakes), I tend to (not always) deviate from my system that I've built for $1/3 when I am at the table. I notice certain spots that look perfect to bluff and 3 bet when this goes against whats required to beat the game. So all of a sudden I get stuck where I can continue to learn and grow as a poker player but would need to stop playing $1/3 LIVE in the meantime.... OR I can stop the learning and continue to grind the live game for my decent hourly.

Previously, I have always chosen the latter.

How can I get past this? Any suggestions?

Some options I have considered:
A) Grind roll till 30-40k (I think I can reach this goal by the end of 2016) and then stop playing $1/3 completely and focus purely on the growth before stepping up to play $2/5
B) Grind roll till 25k and hire a coach to bring me up to speed with $2/5 live meta game.
C) Find a way to balance between growth and play (something I have tried but failed at multiple times)

Note: After playing in a MTT series, I have always struggled to go back to play $1/3 because of the same reason. I am struggling to adjust my mindset depending on what game I am playing. I don't know if there is anyone else on RIO struggling from the same issue but this is extremely frustrating.

Anyways, I am super keen to hear what you all have to say!

Peace,

Tutor